
Normandy D-Day Landings – Juno Beach Centre provides a thought provoking but family friendly experience!
Having recently visited Ypres to gain a better understanding of the sacrifices made by those in the trenches in WW1 (on both sides)… We jumped at the chance to visit the Canadian WW2 centre near Caen… For those who haven’t been, it’s definitely worth adding Juno Beach Centre to your next French holidays.
This was even better for us, as we travelled to visit the Centre with the girl’s grandparents!! So they all trooped off (iPhone in hand to use the brilliantly interactive app) to enjoy the exhibition, one of it’s kind as it is designed primarily at the girl’s ages (7-12 year olds)
The 14,000 Canadian men, all volunteers; braved some of the most appalling conditions to liberate the beaches of Normandy.. and the films, exhibits and fantastic interactive activities just made us appreciate this even more. We only wish the recent ‘Dunkirk’ movie could have made this clear… just how ‘multi-national’ the efforts were!
It’s also worth knowing that the tours are in French or English (so visiting times are crucial) and there are also other museums to visit nearby such as Pegasus Bridge near Ouistreham or The Grand Bunker at Sword Beach. We never visited either of these as we felt Juno Beach gave a great account of the D-Day Landings and was really interactive… but I guess the choice is all yours to make…
“lest we forget the sacrifices of so many”
But perhaps also the human emotions from both sides. Especially as we were able to see inside ‘German Command Centres’ & Machine Gun Observation Points’…
Realising just how tough the whole experience must have been for both sides…. as some 130,000 Allied troops try to dismantle the German ‘Atlantic Wall’… a true test of character and perseverance against towering odds..
“They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Juno beach
so where did we park the bus for the night?

Our Newsletter